The Perils of Being a Cool City

In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Olympic games. Billed as the city opening up to the world again after decades of neglect by Franco, it sparked tens of billions of dollars in renovation, new construction, and public service expansion. So successful has it been that Barcelona I'd often referred to as a model for urban renewal. But this renewal has come at a price. Where once tourists didn't come, today they come to Barcelona more than anywhere else in Spain, and this brings some unwanted changes if you are a local. Aside from the legendary pickpockets and purse snatchers, you get hordes of migrants attempting to sell various knockoff items all over the sidewalks, which just increases congestion, and puts money in the hands of the people who got them to Europe in the first place (read: organized crime). Hotels and international boring chains like McDonald's and Apple and H&M spring up to cater to the hordes, driving out the apartments and mom and pop stores that live there. People realize they can buy an apartment or two in a neighborhood near the old city and make good money renting it out on AirBNB, and the next thing you know, half the people in your building on any given day are strange faces. But this isn't the worst problem.

The big issue is that a lot of people who travel are fuckheads who should never be let out of their own country. This means you, guy carving your name on the towers at Sagrada Familia. You too, drunk -ass Aussie pounding San Miguel tallboys on the street. I know Barcelona has good clubs, but so does Ibiza, and the entire point of that island is clubbing tourism. People in Barceloneta have real jobs, and hate it when you puke or bang in their stairwell at 4AM and then leave. Sex tourist, go fuck yourself. Prostitution isn't legal here, there's just a few places where they don't really bother enforcing the rules. It's not the same thing. If you want to pay for some action, Amsterdam is a Ryanair flight away, and they'll even throw in a wooden shoe full of weed and tulips.

Barcelona has started to fight back, and will continue to fight. For instance, the guidebook I got from 2009 said that tourists could use Barcelona's public bike share, which is the best I've ever seen. This has changed to be only for locals. They've got a ton of bikes, but for high season, they'd need a ton more if tourists could use them. An AirBNB ban is being pushed by some on the city council, and unless the site is willing to work to prevent abuses, it's going to work. But this is the other danger for cities who are working hard to bring more tourism dollars. Some tourism is good. Too much, and it starts to permanently alter your city and embitter your locals. When that happens, you lose the charm that drew people to your city in the first place, and become like Paris.